Together they tell you a lot about what’s ahead and how the campaign should prepare.

Dan Quayle: Though all but forgotten now, and considered best forgotten by most who remember, Quayle was actually a very shrewd selection when George H.W. Bush tapped him at the start of convention week in 1988. In the Senate, he had shown himself a serious and astute senator. He had become one of the body’s acknowledged experts on arms issues relating to the Soviets, essential knowledge with the Evil Empire coming apart at the seams. Then, too, the Midwest was the crucial swing region of the country that year. Quayle was the one GOP Midwestern senator or governor acceptable to all segments of the Republican Party.